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Had to Clip her coat...but didnt want to:-(

I feel a bit sad today. I know alot of you take your Cavaliers to groomers for hair cuts and so on BUT I never have.

I always wanted to keep their coats as natural as possible and although I trim Rubys feet and clip behind her ears to prevent matting, I've never done a full clip on her coat.

But with Regret I gave her a hair cut yesterday. She cant cope with the brushing as much and is very sensitive on her left side of her head and face. She copes much easier with trimming than she does brushing so I've trimmed her chest hair and leg feathers right back and her belly hair is still short anyway since it was all shaved off in July when she was very ill. I'm going to keep it short as well ive also trimmed back the hair around her rear and inside back legs.

She barely has any hair behind her ears- but that isn't visible unless you look under there.

She doesnt look terrible by any means but I just feel sad that I cant brush her much anymore as she used to sit there for hours and let me- It was like our bonding time almost

Yet another thing I can't do becasuse of this bloody horrible condition

Karen

Ruby - my stunning soul mate who defies the odds every dayCharlie- my angel at heart and devil at play

We made the same decision for Daisy at the start of the summer.
It was just sheer hell for her to stand and have even a bristle brush go over her.
As you said,so sad to see the lovely coat lost,but no prolonging the stress of grooming for her.
The trimming upsets us quite a bit, dogs as a rule are devoid of vanity(Thankfully)* and she won't be scratching matts into her coat again..
Sins

I know it's hard. Though Sydney doesn't have SM, his meds for his heart make him have very frequent potty breaks, and sometimes in the house. Lots of times it ends up on him! So with all the frequent cleanings, I have asked his groomer to trim down his leg feathering and of course a sanitary trim. I've been trying to keep the sides of his coat longer, but that doesn't seem to be working so he may just get a shorter cut next time.

No matter what length their coats, they are all adorable, beautiful and wonderful.

Oh, this must be so hard. Not so much the trim itself, but what it all signifies. You are doing the right thing tough to make grooming as comfortable as possible, but I know that does not change the emotion around it.
Hugs to you.

Karen, I know this makes you sooo sad. It's just one more change, and that is what is hard.

My Claire has this bizarre disorder called stud tail. It bothers me a lot.....but my Vet said that Claire is a happy, beautiful and sweet girl whether she has hair on the top of her tail or not. And my Vet said, Claire doesnt know. As Sins said, dogs aren't vain. And that is a very good thing.

I have had Ebony completely clipped since April as she had to do Hydro every week. Also I donít want to brush her every day with her having SM and she hates it. She got that sort of fur that is fine but she has lots of it and it gets knotted even if you donít brush her for just one day. First I was upset as I always said Cavaliers should have their beautiful coats. But now I understand that it isnít always practical, and I got used to it now. I am lucky Harley has not got much fur around his ears.

It is hard to do this as we love our Cavaliers to look gorgeous, but we have to put them first.

Teddy couldn't tolerate being groomed and he had to be sedated to be clipped strangely his coat never grew back afterwards he had hair loss [sometimes a side effect of Gabapentin] but we never found an explanation for why it never grew anymore...

He was much more comfortable though and could be managed with only the minimum of grooming.

The other thing to avoid is bathing dogs with SM if they find it difficult - there are ways around it to avoid having to give a full bath.

Yesterday I had to clip almost all the hair from Holly Poppet's ears because it grows in clumps and matts and I think it may be the source of the raw and tender skin around her muzzle. I have tried everything known to veterinary science to cope with the sores and discharge which collects on her skin, but nothing works. I was starting to wonder whether this was the beginning of the end for Holly, but 24 hours later I seem to see an improvement in her skin.

Of course it could be either the Hydrocortisone starting to work or it could be the dry weather. I will just have to cross my fingers and hope that it was excessive heat induced perspiration.

I do also understand the plight of all the SM suffering dogs and how difficult it is to groom them. Clipping a beautiful coat feels absolutely horrible, but as somebody else said, the dog ends up happier without the stress and discomfort involved in grooming long hair.